Unlike other tobacco T-cards at the time, Turkey Red T3 cards were not inserted into packages of cigarettes or loose tobacco. T3 cards are often referred to as “premiums,” meaning that they could be redeemed by sending in coupons from participating tobacco brands. The Turkey Red cards could be redeemed by sending in 10 coupons from Turkey Red cigarettes, 25 coupons from Old Mill cigarettes, or 25 coupons from Fez cigarettes.

Turkey Red cigarettes were manufactured by the American Tobacco Company, which made many of the tobacco cards in the early part of the 20th century. The name Turkey Red may have come from a red dye that was found in southwest Asia. Turkish cigarettes would continue to be popular all the way through World War I.

The Turkey Red cards include a number of Hall of Fame players, which make the set even more desirable. Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Cy Young, and Tris Speaker, who appears in significantly fewer baseball card sets than many other early baseball players, are all featured in the Turkey Red set. And the card for Fred Clarke, another Hall of Fame player, was recently added to our collection now available for purchase.

The T205 baseball cards also now available for sale are easily identified by the cards’ distinctive gold borders, which also tend to chip easily.

Like the Turkey Red baseball card set, the T205 set was released by the American Tobacco Company. It featured players from the National League, American League, and minor league. The cards also have the first ever facsimile autograph that is overlaid on the players’ pictures. The idea of including a facsimile autograph would be repeated again and again by Topps and several other companies.

The T205 baseball card set includes many expensive variations and star cards. Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, and Cy Young all have cards in the T205 set.

However, one of the most expensive cards in the set is the Dick Hoblitzell “no stats” variation. The statistics were usually printed between the short biographical paragraph and the cigarette advertisement. Several other cards were printed without the statistics, but Hoblitzell’s is the most expensive. Hoblitzell was the 21-year-old first baseman for the Reds. Although he had a fairly unremarkable baseball career, this card is one of the most interesting of the Pre-War baseball cards era.